In the first reading from the Book of Joshua, we meet Joshua who had led the people into the Promised Land. Joshua asks them to choose whom they wish to serve: the God of their ancestors or the false gods of the land they now inhabit. He is more concerned with the inner battle of faith rather than his military campaigns. Joshua knows that all choices have to be renewed, that people do not stay dedicated to a cause just by continuing to exist. Israel Zangwill observed about the Jewish tradition: "We are not the chosen people but the choosing people." Joshua himself makes clear his own choice and leaves them free to make their own. The people too renew their choice: "We too will serve the Lord, for he is our God."
Don't you recognize me?
During the Second World War certain Nazis killed some Jews and buried them in a mass grave. One twelve-year-old boy was still alive. He dug his way out of the shallow dirt and went around the neighbourhood seeking shelter in homes. The people knew what had happened and when they saw the boy caked with dirt, they hurriedly shut the door in his face. One woman was about to do the same when the boy said: "Lady don't you recognize me? I am the Jesus you Christians say you love." The lady broke into tears and received the boy into her home. She had made her decision for Christ.
Unknown
In today's Gospel we have Jesus asking his disciples a parallel question. "And what about you, do you want to go away too?" We know the context in which Jesus was speaking. Jesus had put before his listeners the pointed choice they had to make. "Do not hunger for the bread that perishes but for the bread of life." "If you eat the bread your ancestors ate you will die, but if you eat the bread of life you will live forever." "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." The people found it difficult to accept his teaching. Jesus was putting tough choices before them. He was saying plainly, 'Without God you cannot live; without receiving nourishment from God, you will not manage your life.' One by one they left him and went away. Seeing the crowds departing Jesus does not water down his demands or his teaching. He is not after popular support, He is not after what people feel good about, but He is focused on the Truth. He now turns to his disciples and puts the question to them. They too have a choice to make. He does not plead with them to stay or force them with threats or dire warnings. He does not water down his demands. Jesus has not come to promise us a good time but a meaningful life. "And what about you, will you too go away?" We see a comparison between the response of the Israelites to Joshua and the reply of Peter: "Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the message of eternal life." Peter and the disciples exercise their freedom of choice by choosing to stay with Jesus. For Peter there was something about Jesus that made him give his life for Him. To be a Christian is not to accept a philosophy; nor to devote oneself to public or social reform. Christianity is a commitment to a person, to the person of Jesus. Yet it is not enough to say, "I made my commitment when I was baptized, or confirmed or at the last parish mission or my last retreat." Past choices have to be kept alive by new commitments because decisions of faith are never settled once and for all. The disciples do what we must do, namely keep on choosing Jesus and staying with Him, who has the message of eternal life.
"If there is anybody here who believes in Jesus, stand up!"
This is a true story of something that happened just a few years ago at USC. There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God couldn't exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic. For twenty years, he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him. Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever 'really gone against him'. Nobody would go against him because he had a reputation. At the end of every semester, on the last day, he would say to his class of 300 students, "If there is anyone here who still believes in Jesus, stand up!" In twenty years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, "because anyone who does believe in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that he is God, and yet he can't do it." And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All of the students could do nothing but stop and stare. Most of the students were convinced that God couldn't exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through, but for 20 years, they had been too afraid to stand up. Well, a few years ago, there was a freshman who happened to get enrolled in the class. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about this professor. He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for his major. And he was afraid. But for 3 months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or what the class thought. Nothing they said or did could ever shatter his faith, he hoped. Finally the day came. The Professor said, "If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" The professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the classroom. The professor shouted, "You FOOL!! If God existed, he could keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!" He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleats of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. As it hit the ground, it simply rolled away, unbroken. The professor's jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood up proceeded to walk to the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus for the next half-hour. 300 students stayed and listened as he told of God's love for them and of his power through Jesus.
Anonymous
Is my faith mine?
A so-called 'born Catholic' woke up one day and got a shock. It suddenly dawned on him that he was not a volunteer but a conscript. I don’t know what triggered off this line of thought in him. But for the first time in his life he realized that everything relating to the faith had been given to him. It was all second-hand, like clothes handed down to him from an older brother. He had been baptized as a baby, and naturally had no memory of it. All the way through his growing years, religion had been imposed on him by his parents and by church and school authorities. Not that he had resisted this or even resented it to any degree. But now that he was a young adult it suddenly hit him. He had accepted it all unthinkingly. He had never made the faith his own. But what bothered him most was the fact that he had never been consulted about it. He had never been offered the opportunity to make a personal choice about his faith. In fact, it was a very disturbing moment. Of course, he soon realized that the faith was not the only thing he had inherited. Most of what he was, of what constituted his identity, was not his either – his name, his family, his nationality. But faith was the thing that worried him most. He had not owned the faith. He began to wonder if he had any convictions at all about it. What, if anything, did it mean to him? Would his life be any poorer without it? These were questions he had never asked himself before.
Flor McCarthy, in 'New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies'
Lady Sings the Blues
The movie Lady Sings the Blues tells the story of singer Billie Holliday. To play the role of Billie Holliday, Diana Ross spent almost nine months reading clippings of Billie, sifting through pictures of her and listening over and over again to her recorded songs. Diana Ross also researched Billie’s era of fame, the 1930s and 1940s, and the drug addiction that tragically ended her career. Diana Ross' motion picture debut in Lady Sings the Blues was a huge success, not only because of the powerful story it told about Billie Holliday, but also because of Diana Ross' commitment to honour a singer she admired so much. - Commitment is one of the subjects of today's readings. Diana Ross made a commitment to honour Billie Holliday in the movie, and so she did all the hard work necessary to live up to that commitment. Joshua in the Old Testament and the apostles in the New Testament made a commitment to follow the Lord, and so they were ready to make the sacrifices necessary to carry out their promises.
Albert Cylwicki in 'His Word Resounds'
You can’t do it!
There was this seminarian, who was in the last year of his priestly studies. He had spent well over eight years preparing for his priesthood and was looking forward to his ordination, which was only a couple of months away. The invitations had been sent when suddenly he fell sick and the doctors were not able to diagnose his case. He was treated by a specialist but his sickness went from bad to worse. He was constantly depressed and started behaving strangely. This went on for some time. Finally his superior called him and politely informed him that because of his sickness he could not be ordained. It was like a bombshell! He could not believe what he was told! He walked to his room in silence and fell on his bed and burst into tears. His whole world was crumbling around him. All that he had prepared for eight long years, all that he had lived for, all that he had dreamed about had gone up in smoke. He was so angry with God. It was so unfair! As he sobbed, he banged his fists on the bed shouting: "You can’t do it! You can’t do it God!" As he went on shouting and sobbing his heart out, he slowly realized that He was telling God that He could not do it! Gradually he calmed down, his sobs lessened and he was able to softly mumble: "You can do it! You are my God!" He had surrendered to the Lord! A few weeks later when he went to his doctor, it was discovered that by mistake he was given the wrong dosage of medicine that was causing the strange reaction. After the error was corrected, the young man soon returned to normal. He was allowed to continue his priestly studies and a month later, to his great joy he was ordained a priest of God. At his ordination he felt that the priesthood was not something he deserved, something he merited, but a gift from the Lord, who can do anything with our lives. Are we ready to surrender our dearest plans to the Lord?
Anonymous
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FROM SERMONS.COM AND FR. TONY KADAVIL
1) Backsliding
1) Backsliding
There was once a term frequently used in the church. In the old days it was used often. You rarely ever hear it today. Indeed, in all my years in the ministry I have never preached a sermon on the topic until now. Despite the infrequency with which it is mentioned, the concept, I think, is still valid. It is backsliding.
The term backsliding, I discovered in my research, was popularized in the 1600’s by John Bunyan in his very famous allegory Pilgrim’s Progress. In the story, you may recall, the character of Christian and Hopeful are on their religious pilgrimage. While on the journey they begin to discuss an individual by the name of Temporary. He had started the pilgrimage, but along the way he fell by the wayside, or, as Bunyan worded it, backslid. That term was picked up, particularly, but not exclusively by the Methodists in early America and became a stock phrase. It referred to those once faithful individuals who had lost interest in their Christian pilgrimage…
The term backsliding, I discovered in my research, was popularized in the 1600’s by John Bunyan in his very famous allegory Pilgrim’s Progress. In the story, you may recall, the character of Christian and Hopeful are on their religious pilgrimage. While on the journey they begin to discuss an individual by the name of Temporary. He had started the pilgrimage, but along the way he fell by the wayside, or, as Bunyan worded it, backslid. That term was picked up, particularly, but not exclusively by the Methodists in early America and became a stock phrase. It referred to those once faithful individuals who had lost interest in their Christian pilgrimage…
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You know you’ve crossed into some new station in your life when you visit the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and realize as you are leaving that you completely skipped all the paintings. That’s right, the entire Renaissance wing just was not on the agenda. Suddenly it hits you: You are no longer a student, or a tourist, or an art lover. No, you are a parent of small, squirming children who need to see something big, and strong, and hard-hitting.
So your museum tour was through the pyramids. Your museum circuit consisted of huge tombs and temples, the mummies and the caskets of ancient Egypt. But perhaps most importantly, you meandered through the mists of the medieval ages. This means rooms and rooms of ancient, awful-looking weaponry, and the Met’s huge collection of all types of “awesome” armor. There are over 15,000 pieces of ancient armor and weapons in the Metropolitan’s collection—dating from 400 BCE, through the heavily weighted years of medieval Europe, and including a huge collection of Japanese implements and armories, from the fifth through the nineteenth centuries.
As you wander around the Museum complete coats of heavy iron armor stand at attention all over the place…
3) Commitment: A Solitary Ember
3) Commitment: A Solitary Ember
A church member who had been devoutly active for many years suddenly was absent. One cold winter evening the pastor knocked at his door. Actually, the pastor and the church member had been long-time good friends.
As they watched the wood burn in the fireplace, the minister mentioned the parishioner's absence from church. The man candidly confessed that he had decided he was just as well off without the church as with it. The minister didn't say a word. He took the tongs from the rack, reached into the fire, pulled out a flaming ember, and laid it down by itself on the hearth. He still said nothing.
Both men sat in silence and watched the glowing ember lose its glow and turn slowly into a crusty, black lump. After some moments of thoughtful silence, the man turned to his pastor and said, "I get the message, my friend, I see what you mean; I'll be back next Sunday." And he was.
Commitment begins with decision, but commitment is never a once-in-a-lifetime decision.
Charles R. Leary, Mission Ready! CSS Publishing Company
Charles R. Leary, Mission Ready! CSS Publishing Company
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4) Join the Winning Side!
Jim Wallis writes that when the South African government canceled a political rally against apartheid, Desmond Tutu led a worship service in St. George’s Cathedral. The walls were lined with soldiers and riot police carrying guns and bayonets, ready to close it down. Bishop Tutu began to speak of the evils of the apartheid system -- how the rulers and authorities that propped it up were doomed to fall. He pointed a finger at the police who were there to record his words: "You maybe powerful -- very powerful -- but you are not God. God cannot be mocked. You have already lost."
Then, in a moment of unbearable tension, the bishop seemed to soften. Coming out from behind the pulpit, he flashed that radiant Tutu smile and began to bounce up and down with glee. "Therefore, since you have already lost, we are inviting you to join the winning side."
The crowd roared, the police melted away and the people began to dance. Don’t go away, Paul says. Put on your armor and dance. I am inviting you to join the winning side.
John Ortberg, "Roll Call," article in The Christian Century, August 9, 2003, p.16.
The crowd roared, the police melted away and the people began to dance. Don’t go away, Paul says. Put on your armor and dance. I am inviting you to join the winning side.
John Ortberg, "Roll Call," article in The Christian Century, August 9, 2003, p.16.
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5) Difficult Sayings
That great American writer, Mark Twain, wrote: "Most people are bothered by those passages in Scriptures which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always notice that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand."
I suspect that, at times, we all would like to walk away from the church and never come back. We want a God different from the one we find in Jesus.
Flesh and blood? Yes. But demanding? No.
Resurrected? Yes. But crucified? No.
Salvation? Yes. Repentance? No.
Love? Yes. Commitment? No.
Unfortunately you cannot have one without the other. The rose comes with the thorns. The pains come with the birth. Night come with day. The best of times can only be lived because there are those times that are so bad.
Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com.
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6) Cheap Crosses
A missionary in Brazil visited a market town on a religious holiday, and saw a sale sign in a store’s window advertising "Cheap crosses for sell." We may look for cheap crosses – no sacrifice, no commitment, no cost, no pain – but there is no such thing. Jesus’ disciples have to follow the way of the cross.
Katherine Fagerburg, Difficult Decisions
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7) Humour: I Quit
A guy joins a monastery and takes a vow of silence. He's allowed to say two words every seven years. After the first seven years, the elders bring him in and ask for his two words. "Cold floors," he says. They nod and send him away. Seven more years pass. They bring him back in and ask for his two words. He clears his throat and says, "Bad food." They nod and send him away.
Seven more years pass. They bring him in for his two words. "I quit," he says. "That's not surprising," the elders say. "You've done nothing but complain since you got here."
This gentleman at the monastery had something in common with the followers of Jesus: it was just too hard.
Traditional
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Stanley Jones tells of a missionary who got lost in an African jungle, nothing around him but bush and a few cleared places. He found a native hut and asked the native if he could get him out. The native said he could.
"All right," said the missionary, "show me the way."
The native said, "Walk," so they walked and hacked their way through unmarked jungle for more than an hour.
The missionary got worried. "Are you quite sure this is the way? Where is the path?"
The native said, "Bwana, in this place there is no path. I am the path."
I think that it is here that Peter has one of his more honest and real moments. His guard was down because so many people were leaving Jesus. They were leaving because, quite frankly, things were getting a little too difficult. So, Jesus asks the twelve, are you going to leave me as well? "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Peter replied, "You have the words of eternal life. You are the Holy One of God." Peter speaks for us all. Because in this wrorld there is not path. Peter, you are right. He is the Path!
Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com
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9) I Step Out on the Word of God
Poet Maya Angelou recalls the struggles of her grandmother living through the great depression. She remembers a lot of things about her grandmother: her wisdom, her stature. But it was her grandmother's faith that Maya remembers most. Clasping her hands behind her back her grandmother would look up into the distant sky and say, "I will step out on the word of God."
The great depression was a difficult time for everyone, but "especially so for a single black woman in the South tending her crippled son and two grandchildren." But when faced with mountainous burdens, Maya's grandmother would face the sky and say, "I will step out on the word of God."
"She would look up as if she could will herself into the heavens," Maya writes. And because of her grandmother, Maya Angelou grew up knowing that the word of God had power. And now, today, whenever she experiences the injustices of this world, Maya remembers the great faith of her grandmother. God gives us spiritual armor to protect us from the evil we face daily: He gives us truth, righteousness, the willingness to speak up for Christ, and, most importantly, faith.
King Duncan, www.Sermons.com
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As the time for the Olympics neared, it became clear that Bill's wife would give birth to her first child about the time that Bill would be competing in the Paris Games. In 1924 there were no jet airliners from Paris to the United States, only slow-moving ocean-going ships. And so Bill found himself in a dilemma. Should he go to Paris and risk not being at his wife's side when their first child was born? Or should he withdraw from the team and remain behind. Bill's wife insisted that he go to Paris. After all, he had been working towards this for all these years. It was the culmination of a life-long dream.
Clearly the decision was not easy for Bill to make. Finally, after much soul searching, Bill decided to withdraw from the competition and remain behind with his wife so that he could be with her when their first child arrived. Bill considered being at her side a higher priority than going to Paris to fulfill a life-long dream.
To make a long story short, the United States four-man canoe team won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. And Bill's wife was late in giving birth to her first child. She was so late that Bill could have competed in the event and returned home in time to be with her when she gave birth.
People said, "What a shame." But Bill said he had no regrets. After all, his commitment to his wife was more important then, and it still was now.
The story of Bill Havens is a story of how one man paid a high price to fulfill a commitment to someone he loved.
11) Martyrs’ choice for God, for Christ and his teachings:
11) Martyrs’ choice for God, for Christ and his teachings:
The Old Testament, the New Testament and the history of the Church tell the stories of brave men and women who heroically exercised their freedom of choice for God and His commandments and courted martyrdom. II Maccabees 6: 18-31 describes how the 90 year old saintly Scribe, Eleazar, welcomed martyrdom instead of eating the flesh of pork. The same book describes another heroic Jewish mother and seven of her brave children who lost their lives by resisting the order of the Greek commander to reject their Jewish faith. The martyrdom of St. Stephen is described in the Acts of the Apostles. The first three centuries saw thousands of Christians heroically choosing Christ and courting the cruel death inflicted by the pagan Roman Empire. St. Thomas More was the second in power in England and St. John Fisher the Vice-chancellor of Cambridge University.
Both were executed by King Henry VIII for choosing the teaching of the Church on marriage and divorce instead of choosing their king’s view. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian and pastor, chose to resist the anti-Christian and nonethical doctrines of Hitler and was executed at 39. Today’s readings challenge us to make a choice for God and His teachings or against God.
12) Do we stand for God?
Both were executed by King Henry VIII for choosing the teaching of the Church on marriage and divorce instead of choosing their king’s view. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian and pastor, chose to resist the anti-Christian and nonethical doctrines of Hitler and was executed at 39. Today’s readings challenge us to make a choice for God and His teachings or against God.
12) Do we stand for God?
A group of Christians gathered for a secret prayer meeting in Russia, at the height of the persecution of all Christian churches. Suddenly the door was broken by the boot of a soldier. He entered the room and faced the people with a gun in his hand. They all feared the worst. He spoke. "If there’s anyone who doesn’t really believe in Jesus, then, get out now while you have a chance." There was a rush to the door. A small group remained - those who had committed themselves to Jesus, and who were never prepared to run from him. The soldier closed the door after the others, and once again, he stood in front of those who remained, gun poised. Finally, a smile appeared on his face, as he turned to leave the room, and he whispered "Actually, I believe in Jesus, too, and you’re much better off without those others!" (Jack McArdle in And That's the Gospel Truth: Reflections on the Sunday Gospels Year B [December, 1999]
13) "I’m Jesus! Don’t you choose me?"
13) "I’m Jesus! Don’t you choose me?"
There is the story that during the Second World War certain Nazis shot down a group of Jews and buried them in a mass grave. A partially hurt twelve-year-old boy was still alive. He dug his way out of the shallow dirt and went around the neighborhood seeking shelter in homes. The people knew what had happened and, when they saw the boy caked with dirt, they hurriedly shut the door in his face. One woman was about to do the same when the boy said: “Mom, don’t you recognize me? I’m the Jesus you Christians say you love.” The lady broke into tears and received the boy into her home. She had made her choice for Jesus. In today’s gospel, Jesus challenges his audience to believe him and to accept his promise of the Eucharistic food.
14) Mexican Priest:
In the 1920s, the Mexican government was hunting priests like wild animals. Young Jesuit Miguel Pro was finally caught. His sentence was death by firing squad. His final words as bullets ripped through his body were, "Long live Christ the King." His Jesus came out of John's Gospel and not the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
15) Higgs Boson:
I'd like to introduce the homily with a joke. It comes from science comedian Brian Malow: (deep breath) The Higgs Boson walks into a Church. "What are you doing here?" the priest asks. Higgs Boson says, "You can't have Mass without me." (pause)
It was funnier when Brian Malow told it. (smile)
The joke contains a kernel of truth. The Higgs boson is about matter and we can't have the Mass without material elements.
That is theme of this homily - Jesus offers salvation that is both material and spiritual. He invites us to his own supper - the Supper of the Lamb. As we shall see, that supper has a physical and spiritual dimension.
15) Commitment and surrender to husband or to wife? As Craig S. Keener (Paul, Women and Wives, Marriage and Women’s Ministry in the Letters of Paul, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, MA: 1992) has observed, centuries before the New Testament Period, Aristotle argued that men were naturally superior and therefore fit to rule over women. Plato described a woman’s virtues as taking care of the home and obeying her husband. Plutarch insisted on the wife’s full submission in all social and religious matters; she was to share her husband’s friends and relinquish her own and to accept his gods and religion. Jewish writers from the first century were equally insistent; Philo and Josephus said that due to her inferiority, a woman was to be ruled by masculine authority. Was the Ephesians author simply following the lead of others before him? A careful, open-minded rending of the text will prove otherwise. St. Paul in the second reading, actually advises husbands and wives to “defer to one another out of reverence for Christ” (v. 21). (Patricia Datchuck Sánchez).
14) Mexican Priest:
In the 1920s, the Mexican government was hunting priests like wild animals. Young Jesuit Miguel Pro was finally caught. His sentence was death by firing squad. His final words as bullets ripped through his body were, "Long live Christ the King." His Jesus came out of John's Gospel and not the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
15) Higgs Boson:
I'd like to introduce the homily with a joke. It comes from science comedian Brian Malow: (deep breath) The Higgs Boson walks into a Church. "What are you doing here?" the priest asks. Higgs Boson says, "You can't have Mass without me." (pause)
It was funnier when Brian Malow told it. (smile)
The joke contains a kernel of truth. The Higgs boson is about matter and we can't have the Mass without material elements.
That is theme of this homily - Jesus offers salvation that is both material and spiritual. He invites us to his own supper - the Supper of the Lamb. As we shall see, that supper has a physical and spiritual dimension.
15- Additional anecdotes: From Fr Tony Kadavil
1) Decision in crisis: In the course of a given lifetime, individuals are confronted by a variety of crises. When serious illness strikes, the crisis is a medical one. Political crises accompany the wresting of power from one group or party by another. An economic crisis is occasioned by the collapse of a stock market, the devaluation of a major currency or the bankruptcy of some important financial organization. An international crisis occurs when one nation suddenly invades, blockades or otherwise encroaches upon another. Lesser crises are also frequently encountered. . . the car won’t start and you have to give a presentation to your boss in twenty minutes. . . unexpected guests have arrived and you haven’t anything to offer them. Quite literally, a crisis is a turning point, a moment of decision which will determine a future course of direction; it is a time of sifting and separating and being committed to a choice. In today’s first reading and in the Gospel, readers of Joshua and John will detect an atmosphere of crisis. Jesus, in today’s Gospel, proffered a similar crisis situation to his disciples. In essence, he asked them to decide whether or not they would accept to be fed by the bread he offered. (Sanchez Files).
2) Do we stand for God? A group of Christians gathered for a secret prayer meeting in Russia, at the height of the persecution of all Christian churches. Suddenly the door was broken by the boot of a soldier. He entered the room and faced the people with a gun in his hand. They all feared the worst. He spoke. “If there’s anyone who doesn’t really believe in Jesus, then, get out now while you have a chance.” There was a rush to the door. A small group remained – those who had committed themselves to Jesus, and who were never prepared to run from him. The soldier closed the door after the others, and once again, he stood in front of those who remained, gun poised. Finally, a smile appeared on his face, as he turned to leave the room, and he whispered “Actually, I believe in Jesus, too, and you’re much better off without those others!” [Jack McArdle in And That’s the Gospel Truth: Reflections on the Sunday Gospels Year B (December 1999).]
2) “I’m Jesus! Don’t you choose me?” There is the story that during the Second World War certain Nazis shot down a group of Jews and buried them in a mass grave. A wounded twelve-year-old boy was still alive. He dug his way out of the shallow dirt and went around the neighborhood seeking shelter in homes. The people knew what had happened and, when they saw the boy caked with dirt, they hurriedly shut the door in his face. One woman was about to do the same when the boy said: “Mom, don’t you recognize me? I’m the Jesus you Christians say you love.” The lady broke into tears and received the boy into her home. She had made her choice for Jesus. In today’s Gospel, Jesus challenges his audience to believe him and to accept his promise of the Eucharistic food.
3) Olympian’s commitment to his wife: At the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924 the sport of canoe racing was added to the list of international competitions. The favorite team in the four-man canoe race was the United States team. One member of that team was a young man by the name of Bill Havens. As the time for the Olympics neared, it became clear that Bill’s wife would give birth to her first child about the time that Bill would be competing in the Paris Games. In 1924 there were no jet airliners from Paris to the United States, only slow-moving ocean-going ships. And so Bill found himself in a dilemma. Should he go to Paris and risk not being at his wife’s side when their first child was born? Or should he withdraw from the team and remain behind. Bill’s wife insisted that he go to Paris. After all, he had been working towards this for all these years. It was the culmination of a life-long dream. Clearly the decision was not easy for Bill to make. Finally, after much soul-searching, Bill decided to withdraw from the competition and remain behind with his wife so that he could be with her when their first child arrived. Bill considered being at her side a higher priority than going to Paris to fulfill a life-long dream. To make a long story short, the United States four-man canoe team won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. And Bill’s wife was late in giving birth to her first child. So late, that Bill could have competed in the event and returned home in time for the birth. People said, “What a shame.” But Bill said he had no regrets. After all, his commitment to his wife was more important. A high price, yes, but not too high a price for someone he loved. I can hear that higher priority in Peter’s words: It is you we love Lord, to whom shall we go?
4) “Run, Patty, run!”: Robert A. Schuller tells about a young woman named Patty Wilson, who had a different kind of courage. As a preschooler Patty had a minor history of convulsions. Then one day when Patty was seven, she had a severe convulsive attack in school. She began to shake so hard that she fell to the floor. Her eyes rolled back in her head. The next day the other children avoided her, as children will often do. Over the years, Patty’s attacks increased and the doctors finally diagnosed her problem as epilepsy. But God told Patty to go on and make a normal life for herself despite her handicap. Patty was a young woman with great determination. When she was fifteen years old, she decided to run from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon, to prove to others that epileptics are normal people and to raise funds for the National Epilepsy Foundation. By the end of the first day of her marathon, her foot was aching so badly she could hardly stand on it. But Patty would not stop. The pain grew progressively worse in the next few days. Finally, Patty’s parents convinced her to see a doctor. “You have a stress fracture,” the doctor said after examining her foot carefully. “You must stop the marathon so it can heal.” “But, doctor, I’ve got to complete the race,” she replied immediately. “Patty, that’s impossible!” said the doctor. “I’ve got to set the fracture.” “Well, what would happen if you set the fracture in a few weeks, when I’m done with the run?” Patty suggested. “I’ve made a commitment. I have to fulfill it.” “But, Patty, if I bind it so you can run, you will get blisters.” “What are a few blisters?” said Patty. “Nothing more than fluid under the skin. My mother could take a syringe and drain it, so I can keep going.” And that’s just what Patty did. The doctor showed her parents how to wrap her foot tightly with tape. Each day Patty ran twenty-five to thirty miles, despite the pain in her foot, despite two epileptic seizures. Patty ran for forty-two more days. When she finally got within a mile of the city of Portland, the mayor joined her. Together they ran into the city under a banner which read: “Run, Patty. Run.” Patty Wilson ran 1,310 miles on a fractured foot. [Getting Through What You’re Going Through (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1986), pp. 143-145.] Patty had a different kind of courage, but when push came to shove, Patty Wilson was willing to risk everything to honor her commitment. In today’s Gospel, Jesus challenges us to make such a commitment.
5) Carter, the taxi driver’s, commitment: Brian McLaren in his book The Secret Message of Jesus tells about such a man. His name is Carter. He is seventy-five years old. He is an African-American and he drives a taxicab in Washington, DC. But Carter isn’t just a taxi driver, says Brian McLaren. Carter is “a taxi driver in the Kingdom of God.” And that makes all the difference. Back in 1994, in his role as a taxi driver for the kingdom of God, Carter picked up a man from Malawi, Africa. Because Carter is committed to serving all people, he treated the man from Malawi with special respect. The man introduced Carter to some other Malawian friends, and soon Carter the taxi driver was invited to visit Malawi, which he did, in 1998.
In Malawi, Carter saw poverty he had never before imagined. He prayed, “Lord, help me bring some joy to this village.” And God answered his prayer. God did it through Carter. First, Carter realized that there was no road in the village, just a narrow path, rutted and muddy. Carter had brought some money to Africa, so he offered to pay for gas and oil and drivers if the people of the village would do the work. Soon Carter’s generous spirit became contagious. Someone provided a road grader and then more and more people volunteered to help. Three days later, they had built a proper road a mile and a quarter long. A year or so later, Carter returned to the village. A young man had been falsely accused of stealing and was stuck in jail. Since Carter seeks the kingdom and since justice for all people is an important part of that kingdom, Carter got involved, and soon the young man was set free. On this same visit, Carter met a boy who needed medical care that was available only in a distant city. Carter made it possible for the boy to get treatment on a regular basis by finding and convincing, who else? a taxi driver to take him. The next year, he went back again and this time helped some young men improve their farming by using money he had saved from his job to buy seed. He also made connections and got twenty-six soccer balls donated to the children of the village, because he knew that fun and play are important things. He even helped them get uniforms, because in the kingdom of God, dignity and self-respect are also important things. On another trip, Carter’s generosity inspired a shopkeeper in the village to donate money to help some sick children get treatment for ringworm. Soon a Bible school was launched, and it grew from seventeen to eighty-five students quickly. Who could imagine? A seventy-five-year old taxi driver from Washington, DC, and today in Malawi there are roads, rides, ringworm medicine, seeds, soccer balls and uniforms, a Bible school! There are signs of the Kingdom of God all over that little village. Carter said to Brian McLaren, “I don’t do any of this myself. God is doing it through me.” [Brian McLaren, The Secret Message Of Jesus (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006), pp. 87-89.]
6) Choosing God and life: The following article in the Irish newspaper, Alive!(July-August 2009 issue, p. 6), extols the decision of a young Catholic couple to trust in God and accept the Divine will. The moral commitment of Austin and Nuala Conway gives us an insight into Christian marriage as Sacrament-Covenant and inspired by God’s fidelity. The parents of Ireland’s first ever set of sextuplets decided to put their trust in God rather than follow doctors’ immoral advice during their pregnancy. “These babies are a wonderful gift from God. Whatever God laid out for our lives we were taking it”, said 26-year-old Nuala Conway of Dunamore, Co Tyrone. Doctors warned the married couple about the risks of a multiple pregnancy, and “more or less” advised them to have several of their unborn babies aborted. But the young Catholic couple rejected such a heartless solution and opted to trust in God and accept his will. “Doctors gave us a couple of days to think about it, but we knew without discussion what we both wanted”, said Nuala. “Whatever God laid out for our lives, we were taking it.”
The four girls and two boys, weighing between 1 lb 7 oz and 2 lb 7 oz, were delivered by Caesarian section 14 weeks early at Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital, with the aid of 30 medical staff. In an interview with the Sunday Express, Mrs. Conway said, “I prayed as much as I could for a child. I would have been happy with one, but God blessed us with six, which is amazing.” It wasn’t until just three months before the birth that a scan showed she was carrying six babies. “I’m in love with every single one of them. I fell in love when they were in the womb. When one moved they would all move and I could definitely feel 24 limbs kicking”, she said. (Homilies Alive).
7) The missionary who chose to challenge Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in 1906 in Germany. Always a student of theology, he prepared for the ministry. But in the late 1920’s and 30’s as Nazism grew more and more prevalent in Germany, Bonhoeffer and other confessing Christians knew that they had to oppose the trend they saw their country following. And so, in sermons and in writings, Bonhoeffer opposed Nazism and Hitler. In an interesting twist, some friends of Bonhoeffer made a move to save his life. They saw the fervor of Nazism growing and Dietrich’s words of opposition growing stronger, and so they made arrangement in 1939 for him to be a visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Their hope was that Hitler would soon be gone and then leaders like Bonhoeffer could return to rebuild German in faith and in values. And so, from New York, he watched as Hitler moved unimpeded toward his Arian goals. But after only a few weeks he made a decision. He wrote to friends: “I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the tribulations of this time with my people.” And Bonhoeffer returned to Germany – and then he made another choice. Although he had been a pacifist all his life, he joined with others in a plot that would have Hitler assassinated. He said that while he never ceased to believe that violence was inconsistent with the ideals of the Gospel, he also believed that the crisis of the times was so grave as to require that certain Christians willingly compromise their purity of conscience for the sake of others. Of course the plot did not succeed. Bonhoeffer was found out and he spent his last years in prison. From his prison he continued to believe and to write and to talk about what it meant to be a Christian – the cost of discipleship. On April 9, 1945 he was hanged with five other members of his resistance group. Dietrich Bonhoeffer continually struggled with what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. I suppose that, each day, as he responded to the events big and small that confronted him, he sought how to choose acts consistent with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Like the followers of Joshua and the crowd that followed Jesus, he was given many choices. He chose Christ and his Way of the Cross.
8) “Those who want to go with me, cross this line.” You may have heard of the Spanish explorer, Francisco Pizarro. In 1530 he commanded a small fleet that mapped the Pacific Coast of South America. Pizarro had no formal education (he could neither read nor write), but he quickly realized that he had touched the edges of a great civilization, Even though he was fifty – quite old for an explorer back in the sixteenth century – he decided to lead an expedition to the heart of the empire. His soldiers thought he was crazy and said they would not go. Standing on a beach in Panama, Pizarro drew a line in the sand. He said, “Those who want to go with me, cross this line. I cannot promise you anything but hardships – and possibly death. Those who wish comfort can return to Europe. But you will lose a great adventure – and maybe great riches.” Well, 169 crossed the line. And they did conquer a vast, brilliant civilization – the Inca empire. Pizarro had many faults, some we would judge harshly today. But he also had something we often lack: courage, decisiveness, commitment to a cause. In today’s first reading Joshua asks the Israelites to cross a line: “Decide today whom you will serve.” Do you want to serve the gods of the culture – or the Lord? (Fr. Phil Bloom)
9) The song and the singer: There is a movie about a priest and a captain in the military service. The two of them have become great friends, but their views are radically opposed. The priest is a devout believer; the captain a lapsed Catholic and an atheist. The captain is mortally wounded on the battlefield, and at the risk of his own life, his friend the priest crawls to his side in a last, desperate attempt to save his soul. “Please”, he is begging “Let me hear your confession, let me give you the last rites!” whereupon the captain answers him: “No, my friend, I love the singer, I do not love the song,” meaning: “I love you, but I do not care for your religion.”…. Well, this may sound good in a movie, but it cannot really be done in our Christian religion. In our religion Christ can not be separated from His message; the Singer and the Song are one, and a genuine Christian must be committed to Christ and his teaching as demanded by Jesus in today’s Gospel.
10) “No! There is no other hand!” In the movie Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye is a Jewish dairy farmer, living with his wife and five daughters in Russia. It is a time of change and revolution, especially in the relationship between the sexes. First, one of his daughters announces that she and a young tailor have pledged themselves to each other, even though Tevye had already promised her to the village butcher. Initially, Tevye will not hear of his daughter’s plans, but he finally has an argument with himself and decides to give in to the young lovers’ wishes. A second daughter also chooses a husband for herself, an idealist revolutionary. Tevye is disappointed but after another argument with himself, he again concedes to the changing times. Then Tevye’s third daughter falls in love with a young Gentile. This violates Tevye’s deepest religious convictions. Once again, he has an argument with himself. He knows that his daughter is deeply in love, and he does not want her to be unhappy. Still, he cannot betray his deepest religious convictions. “How can I turn my back on my Faith, my people?” he asks himself. “If I try and bend that far, I’ll break!” Tevye pauses and begins a response: “On the other hand…” He pauses again, and then he shouts: “No! There is no other hand!” Today’s Gospel reminds us not to carry this relativizing thinking too far. In matters of Faith, we come to a point where we discover, like Tevye, that there is no other hand, no other option to consider, no other way. There is simply the right way and the wrong way. This is what we see in the response of Peter and the Twelve to the crisis of Faith that visited the followers of Jesus in today’s Gospel story. (Fr. Munacci).
11) Four Master’s degrees and committed to sports: I read recently about a man named Dave Moffitt who, like a lot of people, is passionate about sports. So passionate that for six years he has been living, eating, and sleeping in his car, driving across America watching sporting events. He has seen every NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA team play in its home stadium or arena. He has watched hundreds of horse races, car races, golf tournaments, even Little League games. Dave’s passion doesn’t cost him as much as you’d think. He eats veggies from a can and sneaks hot dog buns into stadiums where he loads them up with free relish, ketchup, and mustard. He shaves in Wal-Mart bathrooms and showers at truck stops. Dave never pays to park, and he finds the cheapest tickets he can. He eats bananas for breakfast and orders lunch from the McDonald’s dollar menu. Dave is no dummy. He has earned four Master’s degrees but retired after more than thirty years of teaching junior high phys-ed. He just loves sports. His girlfriend teaches school in Japan. As far as we know, Dave’s relationship with his girlfriend is going fine, but should she tire of his passionate pursuit of sports, Dave says that they won’t be together any more. [Martha Bolton and Phil Callaway, It’s Always Darkest . . .(Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 2006), pp. 27-28.] How difficult it is to find Sunday School teachers, how few people are willing to tithe, how few people are willing to do the hard, demanding work of following Jesus! We need people today who are willing to bell the cat. Christ is still looking for people who will not turn back. He is still looking for people who will put him first in their lives. He is still looking for people who are committed to the advent of God’s kingdom on earth.
12) Letter to the Editor: A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.” This started a real controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: “I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to Church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!” (Fr. Lobo)
13) Is there is anybody here who believes in Jesus, stand up!”
This is a true story of something that happened just a few years ago at USC. There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God couldn’t exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic. For twenty years, he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him. Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever ‘really gone against him’. Nobody would go against him because he had a reputation. At the end of every semester, on the last day, he would say to his class of 300 students, “If there is anyone here who still believes in Jesus, stand up!” In twenty years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, “because anyone who does believe in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that he is God, and yet he can’t do it.” And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All of the students could do nothing but stop and stare. Most of the students were convinced that God couldn’t exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through, but for 20 years, they had been too afraid to stand up. Well, a few years ago, there was a freshman who happened to get enrolled in the class. He was a Christian and had heard the stories about this professor. He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for his major. And he was afraid. But for 3 months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or what the class thought. Nothing they said or did could ever shatter his faith, he hoped. Finally, the day came. The Professor said, “If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!” The professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the classroom. The professor shouted, “You FOOL!! If God existed, he could keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!” He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleats of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. As it hit the ground, it simply rolled away, unbroken. The professor’s jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood up proceeded to walk to the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus for the next half-hour. 300 students stayed and listened as he told of God’s love for them and of his power through Jesus. (Anonymous; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
This is a true story of something that happened just a few years ago at USC. There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God couldn’t exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic. For twenty years, he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him. Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever ‘really gone against him’. Nobody would go against him because he had a reputation. At the end of every semester, on the last day, he would say to his class of 300 students, “If there is anyone here who still believes in Jesus, stand up!” In twenty years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, “because anyone who does believe in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that he is God, and yet he can’t do it.” And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All of the students could do nothing but stop and stare. Most of the students were convinced that God couldn’t exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through, but for 20 years, they had been too afraid to stand up. Well, a few years ago, there was a freshman who happened to get enrolled in the class. He was a Christian and had heard the stories about this professor. He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for his major. And he was afraid. But for 3 months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or what the class thought. Nothing they said or did could ever shatter his faith, he hoped. Finally, the day came. The Professor said, “If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!” The professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the classroom. The professor shouted, “You FOOL!! If God existed, he could keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!” He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleats of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. As it hit the ground, it simply rolled away, unbroken. The professor’s jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood up proceeded to walk to the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus for the next half-hour. 300 students stayed and listened as he told of God’s love for them and of his power through Jesus. (Anonymous; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
